Mark Zuckerberg may be wishing he stuck with his initial thoughts right about now...
The Facebook CEO is currently in the midst of hearings on Capitol Hill to defend his cryptocurrency project.
A project better known as "Libra".
The House Financial Services Committee has been grilling Zuckerberg on the ins and outs of Libra and how it will work exactly.
I think right about now, Zuckerberg may be wishing he stuck with his initial thought of integrating bitcoin onto the Facebook platform instead of creating a brand new currency...
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Did Facebook really plan on using Bitcoin initially?
According to a leaks from Facebook staff, the answer is "YES!"
More about that can be seen here:
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@jrcornel/bitcoin-was-facebook-s-first-choice
The reason they didn't go with it is because they thought that the bitcoin technology was not able to scale to the 2 billion users that Facebook has, well at least in its current form anyways.
Whether they are right or not is a moot point because we will never know as Facebook went ahead with launching their own stable currency that is backed by fiat reserves instead.
Whether that will ever actually see the light of day is questionable at this point due to massive regulatory push-back thus far.
The entire crypto market is taking it on the chin as Zuckerberg tries to plead his case:
The scrutiny on Libra is precisely why it will be difficult for a cryptocurrency to succeed in disrupting payments.
In my opinion, the reason that regulators haven't come down harder on Bitcoin, specifically in the US, is because they have learned that it isn't really a threat to the US dollar.
If it was a threat, I believe they would do everything in their power to stamp it out, and rest assured we haven't seen anything close to what they are capable of in terms of squeezing it.
Bitcoin is mostly being 'allowed' to grow up and survive due to it being more of a store of value alternative investment.
It is trying to replace gold, not the dollar.
For that reason it isn't being seen as a major threat by most governments. Plus you have the revelation that it's not quit as anonymous as once thought, which only helps.
Anyways, even if it is only going to be a store of value, there is still over $8 trillion in the gold markets alone and that doesn't take into account the amount of money in other store of value type investments like collectibles and real estate.
Tons of runway out there still folks.
Stay informed my friends.
-Doc
the greatest threat to the US Dollar is the US Dollar, sadly.
It's not really sad at all,
it's a requirement.
USD opened the door for Bitcoin,
and there is no closing it now.
It's really only a matter of time.
True. To hell with fiat.
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Do you mean via QE and the like?
Bitcoin will never replace gold as a hedge. I can put a gold coin in my hand.
Silver is an even easier store of value that every man can hold in hand too...
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How do you know it's not a tungsten coin under there? Much easier to counterfeit gold or silver than it is bitcoin...
You exchange your fiat and crypto with a reputable dealer that doesn't buy their US bullion from China dealers on ebay...lol
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They don't even know how many fakes are floating around out there. There are even some industry veterans that have passed along counterfeits without even knowing it. In fact, I remember seeing something on the news about them finding some fakes in Fort Knox of all places. Go figure...
So what do you do in the meantime while waiting 10-15 years before $STEEM MAYBE breaks $1 again?
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Steem was never mentioned. If the inflation rate is not ratcheted down, it will be hard for prices to go up any time soon. I did mention bitcoin though.
maybe you had in mind 10 -15 month ? Or weeks ?
Fakes are the result of greed and a buyer's laziness.
Every industry has some kind of horror story.
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Bitcoin is one of the hardest and most costly assets to counterfeit in history.
It's also much easier for my silver coin to reach $25 than $STEEM even moving to $.50.
Down 82% over the last year and not looking too promising, even with the uber-late SMT implementation.
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Again, not sure how the conversation has moved to steem, but yes steem has had a terrible 18 months, like most of crypto. Bitcoin is in a separate class than every other coin in my opinion. There is bitcoin, then everything else. Silver may double or triple in the coming years, but that doesn't make my point about counterfeit and it being a worse store of value than bitcoin any less valid.
Can silver make 20x ? Hardly.
Can steem do this ? EASY !
Can I ask one thing @tonygreene113 ?
How long ago have you discovered cryptos ?
So you say "never" ?
Can we return to this subj in say FIVE years ?
I'm pretty sure Zuck bucks will be DOA, they're not going to let him win this one and will drag it out as long as possible until he gives up. The dollar can't afford to have any sort of competition at this point and something on Facebook's scale would obliterate a lot of its influence.
BTC is a unique case I mean no one wants to spend it because they hope it has more buying power in the future. Eventually, when we reach a Satoshi having buying power like 0.01 level we could see people willing to part with their precious BTC as a form of currency and with the lightning network it will be so cheap to do so
His selling point was that a lot of the money backing Libra would be in dollars, and he says that if the US doesn't get on board with this, someone else will, and it wont be backed by dollars, thus weakening the US's global financial position.
and now the BAT stocks are getting their marching orders from the chinese government...
Build something like that, and go forth and conquer the world
I am sure they will do their best!
I can't express myself how much I agree with all the above said, @chekohler
With tenacity I believe this project will materialize.
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Maybe, it has a tough uphill battle ahead of it.
Facebook is comparable to Microsoft, both have strong hold on people even though they both have fucked up big time numerous times... As long as there is no real rivals to push them to oblivion, they will succeed in what ever stupid projects they pursue.
While that is true, governments may regulate it to such extremes it no longer really makes sense or even works.
Governments may try to regulate big companies, but the effect will be minimal. This has been obvious when big companies have been fined for breaking law. The amount of fine has been a lot less than the cash reserves of the company.
I don't.
Nice information. He always like to introduce his own or buy out the owner.
Perhaps he should have just used bitcoin. :)
If everyone would have just used Bitcoin instead of starting their own cryptocurrency, Bitcoin would not be as popular as it is now. Bitcoin was and still is the middle man between FIAT and other cryptocurrencies (read: altcoins). Even if exchange services add more pairs against FIAT, Bitcoin will still be number 1 among the alternatives.
Interesting take, there may be some truth to that.
Think about the alternatives.... For example, Ethereum can only mined with GPUs... When hash rate goes up above certain level, there will not be single display adapter that can sustain the required hashing power...
Technology tends to find a way... :)
I've seen motherboards that can hold 6 display adapters, but that takes a lot more space than computer that has 6 multi-core CPUs with more hashing power....
I gave Mark some credit today, that was a tough crowd, but he managed to get through it....I guess $ signs and total dominance are major motivators.
Yes, I am surprised he hasn't given up on it yet. I guess that shows how profitable (and powerful) it could end up being for him in the long run.
That guy is a bot personified. His lack of a show of emmotion for me is hard to match.
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Got a lot of idea with this article!
Good deal.
I mean, let's be honest, if you can't trust someone with your data, should you trust them with your money?
Nope.
I mean.......
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Congratulations @jrcornel!
Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:
Libra will probably go through no matter what. I honestly believe Facebook will move forward with the project even if it means not servicing Americans. All they have to do is swap the USD backing with Yuan and agree to be a spy network and China's government will be open arms.
They are already the biggest spy network lol. As for the Chinese I think it will be more like an enemy of my enemy is my friend haha.
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That is a good point. Zuckerberg seemed to be implying that when he was saying that America needs to get on board with this or they will be left behind.
GG Zuck
Wouldnt Steem be better for facebook? It seems like the utility suits it more. Only question is if steem can take the facebook traffic. Im not so sure.
My guess is they would fork steem long before they would actually use the steem coin, unfortunately. An SMT might be a long shot tho? And when I say long shot, less than 1% is in the range of what I am thinking.
The anonymity of bitcoin turned out to be a myth in the end but I know a lot of people genuinely thought it was anonymous lol. Anyone tried the bitcoin laundering services? I think they are mostly scams. With Mr Zucky on the other hand I almost feel sorry for him tbh just because he gets in hot water for doing what the big guns like google and amazon already do with the general public's info. The crypto part however is incredulous to me. These are the same people that probably hold some crypto reserves themselves and suddenly they are going all fiat lion king on Mr Zucky there. On the other hand, I felt like he was being a traitor to the origins of crypto when he decided to partner up with mastercard and visa lol.
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They realized that bitcoin isn't a threat to the dollar, Libra might be, so they are acting accordingly.
True.
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Thanks for this valuable post.
could you imagine how much development would have been put into the Lightning network if Facebook was using Bitcoin? These corporations are foolish for trying to do their own thing; they are throwing away free money because they are worried other people are going to get free money too. Welcome to abundance, corporate america.
It woulda been done yesterday. Jack Dorsey has the right idea but he needs a few other heavyweights to join him to really push it forward.
Great post thank you for sharing this... I just hope steem goes up in the near future haha these prices are crazy...
We need SMTs and communities to be a big hit for that to happen. That or a massive bull market in crypto that raises all boats, in my opinion.